Tryptophan Catabolism Restricts IFN-γ–Expressing Neutrophils and Clostridium difficile Immunopathology

Abstract The interplay between Clostridium difficile and the host’s metabolome is believed to influence the severity of infection. However, the mechanism for this phenomenon remains unclear. In this study, we model one of these metabolic pathways by focusing on tryptophan metabolism in the host. We found that inhibition of tryptophan catabolism in IDO1-knockout mice led to increased mucosal destruction, cecal hemorrhage, and increased production of IFN-γ in response to C. difficile infection, but no significant change in mucosal effector or regulatory T cell numbers or IL-10 mRNA expression. The increased immunopathology in infected IDO1-knockout mice was associated with a lower C. difficile burden and an increased percentage of IFN-γ–expressing neutrophils. We further demonstrated the ability of kynurenine to induce apoptosis in bone marrow–derived neutrophils, whereas the presence of tryptophan reversed this effect, providing a possible mechanism for the increased neutrophil accumulation in IDO1−/− mice. We conclude that C. difficile induces tryptophan catabolism in cecal lamina propria cells, which restricts C. difficile–associated immunopathology and the accumulation of IFN-γ–expressing neutrophils. This might represent a self-regulatory mechanism for neutrophils, via the IFN-γ–IDO1 pathway, to restrict their own accumulation during infection. These findings have important clinical implications because IDO inhibitors are used to treat cancer in clinical trials (in patients particularly susceptible to getting C. difficile infection), and treatment with IDO1 inhibitors may exacerbate the severity of C. difficile colitis.